The Catalonia Tourism Board’s brainchild of combining virtual reality through a video game for tourism promotion, Legends of Catalonia has bagged two prizes at JATA (Japan Association of Travel Agents) Tourism Awards. This prize was for the 6th edition of the Japan Tourism Awards.
This year, more than 178 projects from both public and private organizations from around the world presented their ideas and projects in a bid to win the main awards and to be recognized in one of the six special categories given by JATA. These awards are measured by their sustainability, innovation, effectiveness or their contribution to society.
Finally, the Legends of Catalonia won the “Excellent Partner Award” and the “Digital Utilization Special Award” which recognize initiatives that use technology to promote tourism. An independent jury evaluated each award; all of them concluded that the Legends of Catalonia is deserving of both titles; giving Catalonia Tourism Board a winning streak from last year.
Prior to JATA Awards, in 2019, Legends of Catalonia has also won the “Silver” award in the “Most Innovative Use of Technology Within a Destination” category at the London World Travel Market.
Legends of Catalonia is a project carried out by the Catalonia Tourism Board in collaboration with SONY-Spain, with the aim of promoting Catalonia in an innovative way. It is a pioneer in using a virtual reality game for the promotion of a destination. This project sits in the healthy ecosystem of the thriving video game industry in its capital city, Barcelona. In Catalonia, there are over 145 companies devoted to the videogame industry, with a turnover exceeding USD 425 million, a figure that is expected to keep growing following market trends.
In 2019, the global video game market size was valued at USD 151.06 billion and it is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.9% from 2020 to 2027. Catalonia is a European leader in attracting video game investment projects.
“Catalonia is a pioneer in using a virtual reality
game for the promotion of a destination.
This project sits in the healthy ecosystem of the
thriving video game industry in
its capital city, Barcelona”
Catalonia offers excellent investment opportunities for the establishment of R&D centers in game programming, HQ & sales offices. The video game ecosystem is innovative and dynamic, being the most important video game hub in Spain, and one of the biggest in Europe, growing at a double-digit pace in the last years. Furthermore, Catalonia has a wide offer of specialized video game training programs and a high standard of living and quality of life, is considered one of the most attractive cities in the world with competitive labor costs for the video game industry.
In addition, Barcelona is considered the 4th most creative city in the world, and Europe’s most innovative. It hosts events such as the Mobile World Congress, the Barcelona Games World, ESL Competitions, and market accelerators as the BCN Gamelab. In 2021, it will also, for the first time host the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), the biggest trade fair of its genre worldwide.
Some notable examples of video game companies established in Catalonia include French company Ubisoft, creator of the Assassin’s Creed Saga, and Swedish company King, developer of the world-famous Candy Crush game that opened its new headquarters in Barcelona last year.
The game is available to download here.
